i'm in the emergency room

I was on the trail hauling ass, hit a jump, and my tires slid out after landing. I'm sitting in here with a lady crying over her father that just had a heart attack. A 3 year old girl crying over dad who has a congenital hernia.

Yup

Originally Posted by Brentster

I was on the trail hauling ass, hit a jump, and my tires slid out after landing. I'm sitting in here with a lady crying over her father that just had a heart attack. A 3 year old girl crying over dad who has a congenital hernia.

Life is so precious. I'm almost sure I've broken my collarbone.

A beautiful 70 degree day and I get to spend it in this hospital.

What a friggin drag.

You go from being healthy to what I call "the hospital zone". The second you walk through that door you're surrounded with people with health problems. It's another world. You wonder how those in the health profession can handle all the misery that walks through their door. One emergency ward nurse did say, though, that she loved to be the bright spot in somebody else's shitty day.

Just be glad it's only a broken collarbone (to look on the bright side!)

A blind man searches in a dark room for a black hat that isn't there. Dashiell Hammett

It's going to be more than two weeks

I'm now one armed with a sling. The doc said that it was a clean, skinny break and nothing is dislodged.

For 2 weeks, how do I:

Drive my stick shift?
Go to the bathroom?
Get dressed?
Do my job for 8 hours a day?
Keep from going insane?

And you'll just fake it like the rest of us did. I was always amazed how inconvenient being injured was. Just keep telling yourself how lucky you are that it's only a broken collarbone. You could have busted an elbow or two, let's throw in a broken wrist, and oh, yeah, how about a spinal injury? It's all in how you look at it. Good luck. Check out the other broken collarbone threads here for more info.

A blind man searches in a dark room for a black hat that isn't there. Dashiell Hammett

I broke my collar bone once. It was one of the more painful breaks I've ever had. Two weeks is lucky, though. I just had my ACL reconstructed and I'm looking at significantly more time out of work than that. I'm watching lots of borrowed DVDs, trying to read when i can see through the percocet haze well enough, and looking forward to the next friend to come visit...Hang in there!!!

How the heck did you post from the emergency room with a broken collarbone???

iPhone FTW, I'm sure . Sorry to hear about your injury, man...but if you want to realize how fortunate you are (and the rest of us are, everytime we hit the dirt and take it for granted) just cruise on over to the Sea Otter forum and read the "Sad News" thread. I know it made me have a greater appreciation for every time I get to hop on my bike and return home safely.

It was actually my POS Treo that I was typing on. I was feeling sorry for myself and I thought of you guys.

That is some VERY tragic news from Sea Otter. It could have been much worse for me. While I'm throwing myself around trying to figure out how I'm going to type with one hand for the next couple of weeks, that great guy's wife is making funeral arrangements.

Thank you very much for everyone's support. Ya'll be careful out there!!!!!!

Ouch

Whenever I ride, I don't leave the house without an Orthopedic Surgeon, a couple of Anesthesiologists, and a few other medical professionals.

I work in the OR of our hospital. A lot of the guys I ride with are doctors so I'm pretty safe. They carry quite a wide variety of different meds all over the counter or samples so we can get fixed up pretty well.

I have not broken my collarbone yet but am sure it's a painful process. The only really bad injury I had was a driver cutting me off when I had the green light (car had red and did not see me speeding through the intersection surprise surprise) I hit my brakes when I saw the car cutting me off but by then it was to late both wheels locked up on the ice and pavement my studs didn't make traction on the pavement part and I slide all the way across the intersection ending right at the door of the car that was cutting me off. he opened the door "you ok I didn't see you" I said yea Iam fine upon getting up and getting back on the bike I found my left knee was not pushing the pedal instead going in a side to side movement... lucky the fire dept. was a block away I limped over and got taped up and some pain stuff to get rid of the pain in the knee I hoped back home and had to take the car to school for my exam. I was off the bike for a month I still have a dark red spot where my knee hit the ground the scab stayed for like 5 months and my bike would never ride again... this was last year all I can say is it's gonna take a hell of alot more than a knee pain to get me off my bike i.e. pry the handle bars over my dead body

You wonder how those in the health profession can handle all the misery that walks through their door.

You don't really get used to it, but you find ways of dealing with the stress. (ie. mountain biking and skiing for me.) But like that nurse told you, professionally, I tend to meet people on what is probably one of the worst days of their lives and anything I can do to cheer them up and help them through it is very rewarding.

It's very humbling treating people with injuries caused by the activities I love. I'm sorry if I sound insensitive, but it always amazes me how often serious injuries are caused by seemingly minor crashes. I think of an old teacher who tore an acl on the beginner slope of the local ski hill. Really makes you think when you're out on the trails / slopes.

Update

UPDATE

I went to my gorgeous doctor yesterday. She's specializes in sports medicine and said that I'm very fortunate to have a nice, clean, even break. She hooked me up with a much better brace that is under my shirt and frees up my arms. She has no idea why the hospitals hand out those braces that strap your wrist to your stomach and causes your bad shoulder to droop.

The pain is unrelenting. It doesn't hurt TOO bad, it just never goes away. Unlike some pulled muscle or something, the pain NEVER goes away. 24/7 The worst is the first 3 hours of the day after laying down all night. Getting out of the car hurts!!!!! Walking hurts.

She'll put me on some exercises next week and I'll be back on the bike in 3 to 4 weeks!!!!

I'm thinking about maybe joining a gym for a month to ride the stationary bikes so I don't lose my muscles that I've worked so hard for.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH EVERYONE FOR YOUR KIND THOUGHTS, WISHES AND STORIES

You go from being healthy to what I call "the hospital zone". The second you walk through that door you're surrounded with people with health problems. It's another world. You wonder how those in the health profession can handle all the misery that walks through their door. One emergency ward nurse did say, though, that she loved to be the bright spot in somebody else's shitty day.

As a Firefighter/EMT, i can say sometimes its easier than others,sometimes are very hard,more so when its little kids or people you know, and you and your partner are the first people there and have to make all these decisions that might save someones life, all the while everyone is screaming and freaking out. its a very hard and stressful job, and still a Paramedics salary average $27,070. welcome to america.

As a Firefighter/EMT, i can say sometimes its easier than others,sometimes are very hard,more so when its little kids or people you know, and you and your partner are the first people there and have to make all these decisions that might save someones life, all the while everyone is screaming and freaking out. its a very hard and stressful job, and still a Paramedics salary average $27,070. welcome to america.

I broke my collar bone back in 99, when It broke I had never felt that much pain before, I passed out about 30 seconds later. and ive been injured before a handful of times, not sure what it was. Mine was a very jagged break, enough to when I looked to the left I felt like someone was poking me in the neck with a stick. The healing portion never really lined up and the bones basically healed on top of each other.

You will have to find new ways to take a shower, specifically washing under the armpit on the broke side. Tieing shoes, and everything else you have taken for granted. Its a fun process.

On a sidenote, my wife is a pediatric Nurse, and some of the stuff she tells me shakes me up sometimes. It takes a special kind of person to work in the health care proffesion, my hats off to you.

I'm now one armed with a sling. The doc said that it was a clean, skinny break and nothing is dislodged.

For 2 weeks, how do I:

Drive my stick shift?
Go to the bathroom?
Get dressed?
Do my job for 8 hours a day?
Keep from going insane?

For fun, try zipping your jeans USING YOUR LEFT HAND ONLY!!! I was in a sling for 3 months after a shoulder rebuild/collar bone break after getting hit by a truck, (3rd time, so I ride trails 90% of the time), and I could manage most things with creative modifications, BUT the zipper thing killed me. Zippers are made for right handed folks and is near impossible not using both hands (Levis jeans).

Insurance is a wonderful thing. With an emergency room visit, there is a $100 deduductible and thats it. It was probably a $1,500 visit.

Where it gets pricey, is for surgery. I just had a 4 mm kidney stone blasted out of me and the bill was $18,000 for a one hour procedure under anasthesia. I had to pay $1,800 of it.

Hate to tell you this now but just suck on some marshmallow root next time (in the bulk herb section of any health food store). It's both slippery and an anti-inflamatory. The pain will disappear in less than 20 min. and those little suckers just slip right out. An acupuncturist can open your ureter tubes with a few needles in the ear too. Of course I figured this out after having one removed surgically myself, and later learned that I was deficient in magnesium which is why I was forming stones in the first place.